Hittingthe rightnote
Former Union J boy band star has relaunched himself as a fashion model and advocate for better mental health
After a whirlwind rise to fame on The X Factor in 2012, Josh Cuthbert and his bandmates in Union J went on to have a series of hits, including top ten singles Carry You and You Got It All and bestselling album, Union J. But Josh’s music career ended on a sour note when the band was suddenly let go by their label. Now 28, Josh took the opportunity to refocus on himself and started modelling for brands such as The Kooples, Hugo Boss and Jimmy Choo, and becoming an ambassador for Givenchy earlier this year. He has also amassed a loyal following on social media where he shares his fitness and grooming tips. Beyond that, he has been outspoken about his struggles with mental health in a bid to stamp out the stigma attached to it.
Were you active growing up?
PE was always my favourite class at school. There wasn’t a sport that I didn’t try growing up.
Especially football, right?
Yeah, I used to play for two teams. It was my passion and I loved it.
Was quitting football hard for you?
It was a tough time. I had a really bad injury, I chopped off half my thumb in an air rifle accident with my grandad. I was a goalkeeper my whole life and obviously when you lose a bit of your thumb, it’s quite difficult to stay in goal. I lost a lot of confidence because every time I’d take a shot and it hit the thumb, it quite often would result in me being in agony. But I think everything happens for a reason in this world and it resulted in me focusing on singing.
Which led to What was it like going from being a typical young man to appearing on the show and being splashed over the tabloids?
The X Factor.
The thing with X Factor is it’s not your normal rise to [fame], it’s so instant. You go from no one knowing you to all of a sudden 12 million people seeing you on television over the space of a few weeks. Nothing can prepare you for it. There’s no media training, there’s no help with anything, really — you are just expected to be able to deal with it.
You’ve said that Union J losing its record label contract was one of your lowest moments. How did you feel?
I think the main thing that was hardest about it all was that it came out of the blue. We had just [had] our most successful song, which went to number two in the charts, and a couple of months later, we were dropped, and it didn’t make sense. We didn’t see it coming and that was the hardest thing because we hadn’t had any time to prepare for it.
Since then you have been modelling. How has your fitness routine changed since you took on your first modelling contract?
When I was in the band, our diary and our life was kind of micromanaged by our team and there was no time set aside to get fit or even eat well. So, when I’ve gone on to my own venture, my modelling stuff and other solo TV bits that I’ve done, I’ve got the time
“We had our most successful song, and we were dropped”
think that people grow up and they think this is what life is, but ultimately it’s just a snippet. That’s why recently I’ve tried to be open and honest about my struggles with everything, from my insecurities about my job, about the way I look, about my mental health and stuff like that.
You also appeared on ITV’s this year to discuss your mental health. Can you talk about what your anxieties are and how you’ve been working through them?
Morning
This
I’ve dealt with anxiety for quite a while now and I didn’t really know what it was until the past year or so when mental health has been spoken about a lot more in the mainstream media and online. I read an article the other day that said one in four people in the UK is experiencing mental health issues, and I sat there and thought, that’s why it’s important that people who are influential, who have followings, speak up about it, because the more that we normalise it and the more that we let people know that this is very normal and you’re not alone, the more people will be able to deal with it and seek help and improve their mental health. The biggest thing that people can do is speak to people; that is the first step and quite often the hardest.
It’s always been quite difficult for men to discuss mental health. How do you think we can break down those barriers?
When guys go to the pub, I think we’ve all got a responsibility to [go beyond] small talk. “How are you doing?, “Seen the football?” or “Are you watching RuPaul’s Drag Race?” or whatever.
Let’s try and go into things, ask a couple more extra questions, because, ultimately, guys struggle to open up.
is a guilty pleasure of mine”
Ask, “Are you OK?”, “Is everything OK?” That’s what I think we should do and if it starts there, then hopefully it translates to all men.
To pause on mental health for a moment, are you a fan of
RuPaul’s
Drag Race?
I am. I had it on last night before
I went to bed so that was the first series that was in my head. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine. My wife watches it a lot and when it’s on, I think, this is quite good actually, isn’t it? I remember being in LA recording our second album with the band, and RuPaul followed one of the boys in the band. I didn’t know who RuPaul was at the time. He was so excited about being followed by RuPaul and it’s just funny how now I know exactly who he is, he’s an icon, he’s brilliant.
Back onto mental health, how do you stop yourself from comparing yourself to others?
This is something that, being honest, I’m still working on. It is so easy to compare yourself to others. My advice
to people is that we are all different and if you want to look a certain way and you see someone’s body [on social media] and you think, I want to look like that guy, remember, you don’t know how much they’re sacrificing to look that way.
It’s funny, the best shape I was ever in was for a Men’s Fitness front cover and I dedicated months of my time training for it, but it was probably the most unhappy I felt. I struggled with diet. I wouldn’t eat foods I really wanted to eat — and I love eating. I love going out, I love having a couple of drinks. I was so stressed about looking a certain way and comparing myself to other people on front covers and stuff like that, that it actually made me quite unhappy. It’s so easy to crave someone’s success or looks or money or whatever it is, but you’ve got to remember a lot of those people you’re looking up to probably aren’t that happy and I think that’s an important thing to realise.